


Evolution of a Soul

by Josey (cestus)



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-08-13
Packaged: 2017-11-12 02:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cestus/pseuds/Josey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The history of a soul caught up in the cycle of rebirth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Evolution of a Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the bleach_contest prompt 10 facts. I've been thinking about how rebirth works in the Bleachverse for a while and this gave me an excellent excuse to work through some ideas.

She is born, brand new and empty, as the first millennium crawls to a close. Her birth mother cries bitter tears as she hands her over to the waiting sisters, who name her Gudrun, meaning secret. Under their tutelage she learns to spin, and then to weave. She is taught to cook and make medicines, to grow plants and tend beasts. Her eyesight fails as she enters her fourth decade and that winter the sweating sickness takes her in the night. The angel who raises her is dressed in black, but he has kind eyes and there is no pain.

_1\. All souls start the same, with no reiryoku and a clean slate. Upon death they are weak and make no real attempt to remain in the living world._

 

The fiftieth district of north Rukongai is a collection of rough wooden huts surrounded by miles of dusty plains. No matter where he stands the view is the same, flat and empty and dead, and the days drift through his fingers like dust through slatted windows. Ten of them share the house and when the hollow comes he is the only one not dragged screaming into its ravenous maw. He survives thanks to a timely patrol of shinigami from the Seireitei, but when their captain arrives to join their celebrations, he cannot survive the man's fearsome reiatsu. Crushed to suffocation, his soul moves on.

_2\. For most their sojourn in Soul Society is brief, they're only there to wait for a chance to be reborn after all. Even so, reiatsu starts to build with every moment they stay._

 

There is no food and has been none for weeks. Their only water comes from dew collected in cracked glazed pots and there is never enough. Destruction and despair surround them. The city is dying; shipyards razed, the walls crumbling, its people going mad with despair. In his final hour, he breaks, running through the streets and tearing at his hair and clothes, lips cracked and skin peeling. His body drops and yet his soul keeps running. It takes weeks for the devils in black to find him and he screams as they steal him away.

_3\. A soul will slowly gather reiryoku over many lifetimes, however the longer it stays in the living world after death, the faster it accumulates._

 

Fifth district, west Rukongai. It's prosperous and clean. She is lucky and knows it. The family that took her in all have a tiny amount of spiritual energy and they all work hard to earn enough for the food they need. For a while she flounders, searching for balance, but eventually she finds it in the garden and spends many happy days tending her crops. She meets her husband and between them they take in more little ones who need them. Love and laughter sustain her, filling her years with joy, until bandits come and take everything, including her life.

_4\. The amount of time spent in Soul Society increases with the amount of reiryoku a soul possesses. The longer a soul spends there, the higher their reiatsu becomes._

 

She doesn't want to die. Pain rips up her insides and she tries, and fails, to bite back a whimper. The toriagebaba slaps her in disgust, snapping, "Stupid girl, do you want your son to be born weak?" 

She doesn't, but she knows that something isn't right. Last time there was pain, but not like this. This feels like the child is trying to dig its way out of her belly and when she screams and the blood begins to flow in earnest she has the briefest moment of satisfaction at the expression of horror on the old woman's face. But it's her daughter's face that stays with her, haunts her. Pale and small and terrified, it hovers in the growing darkness of her mind and draws her back again and again to the hut where she died. 

Years pass. From her place in the shadows, she watches as her place is taken by one who is not her. Watches as her daughter grows slender and beautiful like a spring blossom. Watches as she is plucked out of season to ripen alone and in shame. Watches as her husband twists an obi around his child's throat. Watches and feels the agony of her heart being destroyed, of her soul being torn apart.

Father and daughter die together, impaled on her claws. Her bloody rampage flattens the village and she consumes hundreds before living blades cut her down.

_5\. A soul will become a hollow if bound to the living world by place and events. A hollow increases its reiryoku by absorbing its victims'._

 

Hunger is his constant companion. It gnaws away his insides, an ache that is never silenced. Using the old katana he finds is just another way to fill his belly, and it's not until he runs afoul of a bunch of academy students that he even realises it's his zanpakuto. They damn near kill him, but he's wiser and stronger by the time they leave and applies to the academy the following day.

It takes years to hear his sword's name and to make it speak. By the time he reaches tenth seat in squad thirteen, he's finally learnt that some do serve with honour.

_6\. When a critical level of reiryoku and reiatsu is reached, the zanpakuto is born._

 

War is brewing between incomers and natives all over this continent, and the squad is on alert to move out at the first sign of trouble. He's assigned a miserable post patrolling the banks of a vast river and it's there that the Hollow ambushes him. It has been hiding out for centuries, preying on wandering souls, and isn't so much strong as sly. They come together in a collision of wills that he neither loses nor wins. Instead they become one, their reiatsu soaring as the struggle forces them to the next level. Instinct takes over, human souls quickly becoming starvation rations and, seeking more, they split the sky to hunt down their fellow hollows and consume them whole. 

But there is more to be had, they know. More and better and stronger. Finding others of their kind, they fight and devour, absorb and become multitudinous. Massive, slow, powerful, they tolerate the small quicker ones until they can find the way out of their own mind.

_7\. The hollows known as Menos or Menos Grande are an in-between stage of evolution._

 

When they metamorphose it is like the formation of a black hole; a critical mass of will collapsing into a singularity of purpose. They emerge like a butterfly from its cocoon, perfect and complete, and now the hunt can begin in earnest. Hueco Mundo becomes their playground, other adjuchas their prey. But the game soon becomes boring, the meat too easy. Driving their minions before them, they invade the living world, slaughtering humans and then consuming the flocks of primitive hollows attracted by their unburied souls. For every one they take, they become stronger and when the shinigami come, the battle is glorious. Glowing with power, they strip the heavens and send the pathetic ants scurrying for shelter. Unrivalled and unopposed they will grind all beneath their heel, will rise above all to challenge the God-King himself!

They don't see the white haori until the blade slides through their chest from behind. Choking on their own blood, they hear a voice; slow, drawling, "I guess she was in the mood to play after all." It drops to a rumble and, as awareness fades, they feel the breath of a breeze across their neck, it smells of sake and roses. "Kageoni. I'm afraid I win."

_8\. The amount of reiryoku accumulated by a hollow as it evolves is phenomenal, however their reiatsu is lower than an equivalent shinigami since all that power is untrained._

 

She is born in the seireitei to a low ranking noble family and her zanpakuto speaks to her before her fifteenth birthday. Hailed as a genius, she graduates from the academy in two years and is appointed to the fifth seat of squad seven. 

Natsukashiko disconcerts some people and she rarely unseals her during training; it isn't fair to make people fight the ones they have lost or left behind. When she finally achieves bankai, she's laid out by the impact of it and it takes several sessions with squad four before she can return to training. Being swamped with the memories of an enemy's loved one will never be easy, and she cannot see what possible use it could be against a hollow. Captain Love tells her not to worry and that everything will make sense eventually, so she perseveres with her difficult zanpakuto, improving to the point that, when the Captain is declared dead, she is recommended for the promotion by Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake.

When news of her appointment comes through, she goes to Vice-captain Kotsubaki expecting him to be disappointed at being passed over. To her surprise, he is happy for her and invites her into his home to see his baby son. He is dead within the decade and, as a favour to the Captain-General, Komumura Sajin takes his place. The appointment is difficult. Not only is Komumura non-human, he is overly friendly with Tosen Kaname, the only survivor of Urahara's night of horror amongst the highest seats of the Gotei 13, and she can never quite shake the feeling that he knows more than he's letting on. Being in the same room as him creeps her out. 

Life in the seventh is predictable and comfortable. She works her troops hard and herself harder. The years pass. Around her, things change; first Aizen and then Tosen are promoted, the latter being given squad nine when none other can be found to replace Muguruma. Captain Kuchiki finally retires, handing the sixth over to his grandson, a serious young man whom she remembers as a tearaway with dirty knees. And little Ichimaru Gin is given the third.

Though not ageing physically, she is feeling tired and more than a little lonely. She has dedicated well over a century to squad seven and is starting to wonder if anything lies beyond service. She is not like Unohana, she decides; living her life vicariously through a series of vice-captains is not for her. Retirement is a possibility, if she can find a replacement. Komamura has achieved bankai but whether the other captains will learn to accept him as she has is debatable. With that thought in mind, she sends out tendrils of enquiry and receives in return an offer of friendship from Captain Aizen. 

Together they talk through Komumura's potential and agree that he needs some way to truly showcase his skills. Their conversation continues deep into the night and she is somewhat surprised when Tosen and young Gin join them. She is even more surprised when they close the door behind them and Aizen draws his zanpakuto. When she returns to her squad, she finds nothing but hollows and corpses, and dies insane beneath the crushing swing of a giant's sword.

_9\. Reiatsu increases through training and time spent in Soul Society. Achieving bankai pushes the soul into the next level of evolution.  
 ~~Bonus fact 9a. Aizen is a bastard~~._

 

She is born, brand new and empty, as the third millennium dawns. With fading primal instinct, she grapples with the world knowing only that something is wrong. There is a hole inside that should not be, as though part of her has been stolen. Then a bundled form is placed beside her and when that other opens her eyes, she is staring into her own heart. Latent memory stirs, of battles fought and won, of blood drawn and spent. This is Natsukashiko, she realises, the other half of her soul. Apart and yet entwined. They are together. Something eases within and, comfort mutually sought and found, they both slip seamlessly into sleep. 

"Mom," a childish voice pipes into the silent room, "Why're they all small and wrinkly?"

Laughter like sunshine on water follows, "Oh my, what a thing to say." A woman with summer hair and a smile that can dry the most tear-stained face appears over the cot. "Come and say hello to your new sisters, Ichigo. As their big brother, it's your job to protect them, and I know you will do so with all of your heart."

_10\. There is a limit to the amount of reiatsu and reiryoku a single being can withstand. When the critical level is reached the zanpakuto separates to become a new soul, leaving the original to start over._


End file.
